A Wasilla runway extension eyes nearby homeowners' land, if the money can be found

Property owners near Wasilla Airport could see their land sought for purchase under a resolution the city's Airport Advisory Commission takes up Thursday. The resolution backs continued land acquisition tied to a plan to extend the runway — a project that would reshape the ground around a field ringed by homes, and one that may not qualify for the federal money that usually pays for such work.

The plan would lengthen the existing 3,700-foot runway substantially, eventually to about 6,000 feet, to handle a heavier class of aircraft than the small general-aviation planes it's built for now. The city frames the work as a safety and compliance need — bringing the runway up to the FAA's design standard for those larger planes. Meeting it would involve roughly 71 acres within and next to the runway protection zone at one end, along with easements over neighboring airspace to clear obstructions and limit what can be built nearby.

The funding is the open question. Older city planning material flatly states the extension is not eligible for the FAA's main airport grant program. The 2026 master plan is less certain, saying eligibility will ultimately depend on which aircraft are actually using the airport when construction is proposed, and on economic development there. Under FAA guidance the plan cites, a city seeking a longer runway on economic grounds must show a concrete need — including letters from businesses that use the airport, spelling out the operations and jobs an extension would produce. If it's ruled ineligible, the plan says, the city will have to find the money elsewhere.

Some residents have criticized the project as unnecessary and a threat to the area's rural character, though how widespread that opposition is isn't clear from the record. What the master plan does document, across four public meetings between late 2022 and early 2025, is repeated concern from neighbors about noise, light and jet fumes reaching their homes. "They fly all day and night and disrupt our peace and quiet," one resident wrote in the project's comment log, describing flight-school traffic overhead and asking that any future noise study reach as far as Lake Lucille.

The project is also, for now, on hold: the city said in April that its engineering contract had ended, a replacement was being sought, and it was "completing existing contracts but unable to begin new projects at this time." The resolution names no specific parcels or dollar figures. The commission meets at 6 p.m. Thursday at Wasilla City Hall, with public comment taken before and after.